Infant Skull Fracture Lawsuit

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The purpose of an infant skull fracture lawsuit is to obtain justice and compensation if a baby is born injured due to medical malpractice. In some instances, a fracture can happen without anyone to blame. In other cases, a healthcare provider’s negligent mistakes cause a newborn skull fracture.

What Is an Infant Skull Fracture Lawsuit?

An infant skull fracture lawsuit is a legal action some parents take to seek compensation for their injured newborn. A baby can be born with a skull fracture for many reasons. One possible cause of an infant’s skull injury is medical malpractice.

A medical malpractice lawsuit helps parents seek justice for the harm caused to their child. It also helps them recover damages for the medical and care costs incurred by their child’s injuries.

How Do Infant Skull Fractures Occur?

The newborn skull is different from the skull of an adult or older child. It is made up of plates held together by flexible sutures. The plates don’t solidify until the child is older, so the brain can grow in an expanding skull.

The flexibility of the infant skull also allows it to go through delivery, with sometimes extreme pressure and forces on it, and come out intact.

A newborn’s skull is also delicate and vulnerable to injury when something goes wrong during or shortly after childbirth. During childbirth, the primary cause of skull fractures is the use of instruments.

Doctors sometimes use forceps to grip and pull on an infant as it emerges or vacuum extractors to suction the infant out of the birth canal.

In either instance, a doctor might use the instrument forcefully enough to fracture the skull. After a child is born, mishandling a newborn can also lead to injury to the skull, such as dropping the baby.

Infant Skull Fractures Lead to Complications

Sometimes, a skull fracture in an infant is minor and linear, meaning that it does not cause the plates of the skull to move. These linear fractures typically heal with time and do not cause lasting damage. Other types of fractures, or more severe linear fractures, can lead to serious harm.[1]

A depressed fracture, for instance, can cause hemorrhaging or bleeding in the brain. This puts pressure on the brain and can cause brain damage and even the infant’s death if not treated immediately. Depressed fractures almost always require intervention to heal and prevent or minimize complications.

If a baby suffers brain damage from a fracture, he may live with a disability for the rest of his life.

Brain damage at birth can cause mild to severe complications, some of which are lifelong:

• Developmental delays
• Cognitive impairments
• Seizure disorders
• Behavioral disorders
• Paralysis
• Cerebral palsy

The consequences of brain damage from a skull fracture may require lifelong care, treatment, and interventions.

Why Should Parents File an Infant Skull Fracture Lawsuit?

When parents learn their child’s devastating birth injury could have been prevented, they often want to seek justice. A lawsuit against the negligent doctors or hospital can provide a sense of justice and closure. Holding them accountable might even protect babies in the future.

A more tangible reason to file a lawsuit over an infant’s skull fracture is to recover damages. A skull fracture at such a young age may require expensive treatment. If there are lasting complications, the child might need lifelong care that can cost millions of dollars.

A medical error that causes a skull fracture can have lasting implications for a child and the family. There is the loss of a healthy life, the possibility that a parent will have to stay home from work, the costs of treatment and care, and emotional and physical pain and suffering.

Proving Medical Malpractice in an Infant Skull Fracture Lawsuit

For parents who believe that their infant’s skull fracture could and should have been prevented, that it resulted from an error made by a medical caregiver, a lawsuit is a legal avenue to seek compensation and justice.

If you believe that your doctor caused the baby’s injury, you have the right to file a lawsuit. You will need an experienced birth injury lawyer to help you prove medical malpractice.

Proving medical malpractice can be tricky. You must show that the doctor or other care provider was responsible for you and your child, that they failed to provide adequate care, and that this led to the injury and complications.

How to File an Infant Skull Fracture Lawsuit

Filing a lawsuit is not necessarily straightforward. You don’t have to do it on your own, though. To begin your lawsuit, find a good lawyer to take care of your legal details.

An experienced birth injury and medical malpractice lawyer will know what to do and will be able to tell you what you need to do, such as keeping medical records and recollecting what happened when your child was born.

Your lawyer will have the most critical responsibility of making a strong case that medical malpractice caused your child’s injury.

Your lawyer will collect evidence to show that the medical caregiver you entrusted with the care of your baby made an error in judgment and that the mistake led directly to your child’s injury and resulting disability.

What You Can Claim in a Skull Fracture Lawsuit

In addition to bringing the responsible parties to justice for medical errors, your case will also be a way for you to get compensation on behalf of your child.

Other parents have won millions for their children in birth injury cases, and you may be able to as well if you and your lawyer can make a strong case for medical malpractice.

Among the things you can claim in a lawsuit is compensation to cover all current medical bills related to the skull fracture and future expected medical bills.

You can claim for the specialized care and treatment you expect your child to need and the expense of travel to get those services.

You can claim lost wages if you or a spouse are forced to leave work to care for your child.

You can also claim for intangible costs like emotional pain and suffering or the loss of a normal life for your child. A lawsuit may be the most important thing you do for your child and his future care.

Infant Skull Fracture Lawsuit Leads to $10.3 Million Verdict

In 2016, a Texas mother won $10.3 million from a jury hearing her case and was convinced the doctor was to blame for the child’s skull fracture and death.

The doctor used forceps on the baby’s head, and the mother described hearing a pop as they broke her child’s skull.

Five days later, the baby died from the resulting complications. The mother also argued that she had pushed for a Cesarean section but that the doctor convinced her she didn’t need the procedure.[2]

If the doctor had taken the mother’s concerns seriously and if he had performed the Cesarean section initially, her baby might still be alive.

Family Awarded $97.4 Million for Infant Skull Fracture

Another case involving a devastating infant skull fracture led to a jury award of more than $97 million. The baby was born in Iowa in 2018. The baby was in distress, and all signs indicated the doctor should perform a Cesarean section.

The doctor at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City did not begin a C-section. Instead, she used forceps to try to speed delivery. The force she applied fractured the baby’s skull and caused significant brain damage.

The jury agreed the doctor, her practice, and the hospital were negligent in causing the brain injury, bleeding, seizures, and facial palsy in the baby. The jury verdict led to the largest award ever in Iowa for medical malpractice.[3]

If you believe that your child’s skull fracture resulted from poor medical judgment or an error, contact an experienced birth injury lawyer today.